Revealed: The young player Leicester wanted from Man City in Riyad Mahrez deal

The Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City saga continue to rumble after a proposed transfer broke down on transfer deadline day, with new revelations from France today on exactly why the Algerian is ‘depressed’ and currently refusing to train.

From a more local source comes a very interesting nugget of information on the identity of the mystery player who could have gone the other way in a player-plus-cash deal.

According to John Percy of the Telegraph, it was 20-year-old Patrick Roberts – currently halfway through a season-long loan spell at Celtic and valued at £15million – who Leicester suggested as a potential makeweight when talks were advanced.

Pep Guardiola had no interest in selling the mercurial young winger though, and a decision on his future is expected to be delayed until the summer, when perhaps a final decision will be made on if he has a chance of joining Guardiola’s first-team squad.

Leicester have insisted that they would have accepted a straight cash deal of £80million and believe that is his market value, after Philippe Coutinho left Liverpool for Barcelona in a £142million deal.

The question for City now is whether to pursue Mahrez for a third successive transfer window, after Guardiola confessed that they also tried last summer, or move on to other targets.

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patrick roberts, riyad mahrez